Information for referees

If you have been asked to provide a reference on the Oriel application system for an applicant to the UK Foundation Programme, the information on this webpage may help to answer some commonly-asked questions about providing a reference.

About references

During the Oriel application process, applicants must give details of one academic referee from their medical school.

If you have received an email request to provide a reference, an applicant to the UK Foundation Programme has given your name as their referee. The applicant should have asked your permission before doing this.

A reference takes approximately five minutes to complete.

About providing a reference

As a nominated referee, you do not have to be the most senior person in an organisation. It is more important that you are able to comment on their performance.

You must be from the applicant’s medical school. You might be a professor, lecturer, reader, director of clinical studies or a person holding an honorary contract as advised by the medical school.

Ideally, you should have known the applicant for one year; or at least a minimum of six months. You should be aware of their performance during all years spent at the medical school.

The structured reference form indicates that it is an employment reference, which we understand can be confusing. The form is a standard template used across all training programmes on Oriel and is not customised for the UK Foundation Programme, so it cannot be altered.

Since applicants to the UK Foundation Programme are typically new medical graduates who may not have prior employment experience, our process requires an academic reference from their medical school instead. Therefore, the referee should provide an academic reference in place of an employment reference.

Please check the Application Timeline for the reference submission deadline.

Completing and submitting references on Oriel

Reference requests are sent automatically through the Oriel system. Click the link in the email to access and complete the structured reference form online.

Reference requests are sent on the date(s) listed in the Application Timeline.

No, we only accept references on the structured reference form. This professional academic reference should verify factual information only; personal testimonials or assessments are not required.

Your responses may be discussed with the applicant and shared with other NHS departments.

It is not possible to make changes to a reference in Oriel after it has been submitted. To amend a submitted reference, contact the applicant for the foundation school/employing trust’s contact details.

Alternatively, if the foundation school/employing trust needs more information, they will reach out to you directly.

Oriel does not support Internet Explorer. Oriel is only supported by Chrome, Edge, Safari and Firefox. You may need to copy and paste the link directly into the address bar of a supported browser if you cannot click on the link.

You do not need to be logged into Oriel to complete the reference.

Email requests, reminder emails and links

Oriel sends weekly reminders to referees who have not yet completed their reference. Each reminder email will contain a new link to the structured reference form.

Please remember to check your spam/junk email folder.

Oriel sends weekly reminder emails if you have not submitted the reference. We cannot stop these reminders as they are automated.

If the applicant nominates another referee instead, you will stop receiving these reminders.

Please ensure that noreply@oriel.nhs.uk is added to your email safe senders list to avoid the requests being blocked or filtered by your email provider. Please also remember to check your junk/spam folder(s).

If you cannot access the email address provided by the applicant (for example, you no longer work at the medical school), please contact the applicant to update your details in Oriel. The UKFPO cannot act on your behalf, update the email address provided by the applicant, or remove you as a referee from an application.

We understand that individuals may be cautious about clicking links received via email. As Oriel is an NHS system, please be assured that any request that you receive from noreply@oriel.nhs.uk is secure and safe to access.

Each link is unique and must be used to access the structured reference form. There is no other way to access the form without the link.

If you can’t provide a reference

We inform applicants that they must obtain their chosen referee’s permission before listing them as a referee. However, we acknowledge that for many reasons, this does not always happen.

If you find yourself in this situation, please contact the applicant directly to discuss the matter further. The UKFPO cannot act on your behalf or remove you as a referee from an application.

If you do not know the applicant and you are therefore unable to provide the reference, please contact the applicant’s medical school to discuss further.

The UKFPO cannot act on your behalf or remove you as a referee from an application.

If you know the applicant but feel unable to provide the reference for another reason where it would not be appropriate to discuss this directly with the applicant, please email us at helpdesk@foundationprogramme.nhs.uk for further advice.